ASAHI RYOKUKEN INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

September 20, 2001

Marianne Morris

MARIANNE MORRIS: Yeah. I actually was lazy on Monday. I started out to walk it, because I had driven with three other players from Portland 42 hours in a car. So I didn't feel like playing on Monday. And I headed out to walk it Monday afternoon and I got down to the second, actually it would have been the 11th tee box, and a volunteer came by and offered to ride me around in a cart. So I took him up on that. But the first time I played it, it's just, you got to hit it in the right spot. Off the tee and into the green. And I did that today. My job today was fairly easy. You hit some shots off line and it's going to make it pretty difficult. They really penalize off line shots.

MARIANNE MORRIS: I've been sworn to secrecy. I'm not allowed to tell anybody. Actually it was myself Marilyn Lovander and Lori Atsedes and Carri Wood. And my situation was I was flying United, I couldn't get a hold of United, so I wasn't going to wait around and take a chance on not being able to get here at all. And I really wanted to play this week, because I graduated from South Carolina. So it was pretty important for me to get here. So my only option was driving. And fortunately I had three other people as stupid as I was to go.

MARIANNE MORRIS: It feels like coming home. It took me five years to graduate and so really when I come back to South Carolina I feel like I'm home. I lived actually in Atlanta for almost eight years on and off. So when I play in Atlanta, I play here, I play in Dayton and I play in Youngstown, those are the four places that really feel like home to me, because I have really close ties in those places. If I can play as well here as I did in Youngstown I'll be really happy.

MARIANNE MORRIS: When I make putts I'm going to shoot low numbers. Because I generally drive the ball well. I'm really pretty solid with my irons. I hit a lot of greens. So my biggest problem with my game is the putter comes and goes. And case in point, I made six birdies today. If I don't make any birdies today I shoot one over. So it's feast or famine with the putter. The rest of my game I'm fine with.

MARIANNE MORRIS: Well, I'm not trying to put any extra pressure on myself. If I get into the top 90, fine. If I don't, I'm not going to worry about it because I know I'm going to play next year. And I've had some personal problems in '99. I'm coming off of a back injury in 2000 where I only played six events. So I'm really coming along okay. I started out the season, when I started playing I played pretty good and then the summer I didn't really play all that well. But now I'm back. And that's just the way golf is. You just kind of ride the wave. And when you're peaking you try to enjoy it and get the most out of it. And when it goes down into the lull you just try to ride through it. Yeah, I'm not going to lie to you, I would love to finish top five here or whatever it's going to take to get me into the top 90 and have a nice winter. But if I don't, I'm not going to worry about it. I know I'm playing.

MARIANNE MORRIS: I'm just talking about the Money List. I think I'm sitting around 108th on the Money List. And I think last year we went down to what? 135 or something? So I'm going to play more events probably next year than I got to play this year being conditional coming off of a medical. So yeah.

MARIANNE MORRIS: Yeah, I had a bulging disk and I couldn't play at the beginning of the season and then I only played six events. And I've really kind set my schedule this year. I could have played more. I chose not to. I didn't want to push my back. I'm just coming out of a training program where I was exercising all winter and working out with a personal trainer just to strengthen the back. And for me it's tough for me right now to go play three or four weeks in a row. I can't do it. So that's why I chose not to play Tulsa, so that I could play Portland and finish up here in Augusta. But it's two weeks of a daily grind is good right now for me and hopefully as next year it will get better and I can play four or five weeks in a row.

MARIANNE MORRIS: Well I drove some, I sat some, I laid on the floor some. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. But I think if I would have looked at the map really hard before I left I might have, I don't think I realized it was going to be 42 hours. So we will blame it on my college education.

MARIANNE MORRIS: We drove our first stop when we left Portland, Oregon was Fort Smith, Arkansas. 30 some hours away. And everybody is sitting, we had by that time we had picked up another player's car in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We had two minivans that the four of us are traveling in now. And we stopped to get gas and the conversation shifted to, well, you know, what are we going to do about the hotel rooms? And I said, I don't care what you guys do I'm getting my own room. I'm tired of this. And everybody got their own room. And we didn't get in any fights, we didn't wreck the car. So we got here. That's what was important.

MARIANNE MORRIS: Well we did pass Vickie Odegard and her husband and her mother a couple times. But it was 3 o'clock in the more I think and I wasn't really caring who I was passing or who was passing me. But they drove too. So we weren't the only ones on the highway.

MARIANNE MORRIS: Well, the first hole was my only bogey and I drove it in the right hand fairway bunker. I hit it up just short of the green and just didn't get it up-and-down. So that's that. And then on two I hit 9-iron in. And I made that putt.

MARIANNE MORRIS: I'm not even sure how far it was to be honest with you. Then on 3 we hit 6-iron in. That was probably about 10 feet. 4 was just a routine par. We hit 7-iron in. 5, we hit 8-iron in. 6, I hit 5 wood in from like 195 and had an eagle putt. The eagle putt was probably about 25 feet and the birdie putt was just a tap in. Just had to walk up and tap it in. Number 7 we hit 7-iron in and that was probably about a 20-footer. And that was my miracle putt for the day because if it hadn't have hit the hole I was going to my bag for my wedge. 8, we hit 8-iron in. That was probably about 12 feet. 9, just hit the green in two and/or in three and 3-putted.

MARIANNE MORRIS: Hit sand wedge in. I had about 55 yards to the pin and hit it in there about 8 feet and made the putt.

MARIANNE MORRIS: I think our staff has tried to do a really good job. I think they tried to find some flat spots on the greens. It could get pretty tough. There's some pin placements out there that would be impossible. So I think they're doing a good job as far as trying to give us at least four or five foot flat area around the hole. Some of these greens it's just almost impossible to get that. But you just have to pay attention, look at your yardage book, trust your notes and hit it to the right side of the pin or the correct side of the pin, I should say.

MARIANNE MORRIS: Well, I think if it's hot and you go four days, it could play a part. But a lot of the ladies out here spend time in the fitness van. And like I said, I hired a personal trainer this winter to try to get in shape. And Annika has pretty much almost forced everybody into doing that with her workout program and her work ethic, you either try to keep up or you get left in the dust. So I wasn't big on working out, but after this winter, I get mad at myself if I don't go to the gym. So I think it will help.